Click
here to listen to Blackman Preach read this poem.
I saw coffins as I lie on
the backbone of a flat-bed
pick-up
scared to hell for denying
Christ
in the darkness of my night
while the trumpet sounds of
sirens
where loud—everybody
was aware of
the road-rage
cops on Winston’s
tail.
I saw coffins as I lie on
the backbone of a flat-bed
pick-up
speed BUMP after speed BUMP
I lied there on the
spine of a
Nisan pick-up
being stretched like elastic
while my teenage arms
revealed a map of pain
I Had No Idea
they would shoot the innocent
suspended in mid-air.
I saw coffins as I lie on
the backbone of a flat-bed
pick-up
confused for the chauffer
was driving
without a license, registration,
or insurance
but packed heavy
artillery for Iraq’s war
but I was on the backbone
of this pick-up
lying like screwdriver, FLAT,
while the Nisan captain
was
in flight.
I saw coffins as lie on
the backbone of a flat-bed
pick-up,
while the goons
that could’ve
left Ruby’s son
a corpse
the youngest child
wearing a stiff
suit—
to die for
on the backbone of this Nisan
coasting me away from safety
as the crying rain baptized
and saved me
from that final parade of
life
I saw coffins
I saw coffins
I saw coffins of police brutality
but I was one innocent
but I was one innocent
before they
picked me up &
let
me
go.
The preceeding words are lyrics from the CD State
of the Ghetto Address
Click
here to listen to Blackman Preach read this poem.
Note: The weekend of
November 17-18, 2007 at the Upper State (New York) Independent
Awards, Blackman Preach took home the plaque for the Best
Poet. Blackman Preach believes it is very important to thank
those who took time out and voted for him. If you think the
lyric and music production on Bumpy Tymes was serious, just
wait until you see what he's cooking for the third album...
Word Up!
BlackCommentator.com Spoken
Word Columnist, Poet Blackman Preach (Cedric T. Bolton),
is a poet
(spoken word artist) and producer, born in Pascagoula, Mississippi
and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. Cedric received his Bachelor
of Arts degree from Western Washington University and currently
resides, with his wife, in Syracuse, New York. He is
the Founder of Poetic
Black Fusion, a writers' workshop that provides access
and opportunities to poets of African Ancestry living in Central
New York. He is also the co-founder of Voices Merging,
a student-run poetry organization (spoken word) at the University
of Minnesota that provides a social outlet for undergraduate
students to develop as writers, network and express themselves
on stage. He has been writing poetry for 14 years and is published
in the Ethnic Student Center's Newsletter at Western
Washington University, The Spokesman Recorder, and St.
Cloud Times. Click
here to contact Blackman Preach.